eReaders Receiving Upgrade Courtesy of Freescale

Freescale Semiconductor already has a large presence in the eReader market, powering both the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader. The company has announced a new chip that will improve these devices in several areas. The i.MX508 chip will provide boosts in speed, battery life, and the possibility to support color screens. The increase in speed will allow the devices to turn the pages of the e-books faster, rivaling the speed of turning a physical page. The reduced power draw will allow the device to operate even longer, and the chip even includes power saving modes of operation. Also worth noting is that the processor will cost less than the current generation, which should allow a price drop for consumers.